


Snow white trolls

by Bluemoondreams



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Snow White Fusion, Angst, Darkness, Fairy Tale Retellings, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Snow White Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-11-29 21:48:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11449725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluemoondreams/pseuds/Bluemoondreams
Summary: Yep it’s another fairy tale what can I say I have fun with them, this time it’s Snow White I think I may start to put all of these into a collection at some point. Since I am writing this fairy tale it will more than likely be odd but then why would you want to write things which are the same is everyone else’s? Warnings of two males in love eventually, fluff, angst and darkness because let’s face it this is Snow White it is dark in places.





	1. Chapter one

Snow white Trolls

Chapter one:

Once upon a time long ago there was a good light lavender troll Queen named Rosiepuff, she was married her true love the kind deep blue troll King Sapphire, the two trolls loved each other very much, they longed for a child but so far the Queen and King had not been blessed with a child. Sapphire was walking in the garden of the castle, when he found two beautiful roses one which bloomed with blue roses and the other with purple roses. The King had never seen this part of the garden but he had heard of it, this was known as the rose garden of true love, because it was said that here many years ago a peasant troll named Branch had saved the young King Creek from his cursed beastly form with the love he had held for the King. Sapphire touched one of the blue roses gently, it’s petals were silky soft, he had never seen a rose in such a shade of royal blue and teal blue before now and the King found himself saying softly. “What a beautiful colour…I wish we could have a child with these colours…If you could grant us that wish ancestors of my wife, I would be honoured to name him Branch and I will pray every day that he will find his true love Creek once more.” The King gasped as the blue rose under his fingertips glowed, he hoped that this meant that his wish would be granted and Sapphire knew if it was then he would keep his promise to the spirits of Rosiepuff’s ancestors that he would pray everyday for those two souls to find each other again.  
It was shortly after this the kings heartfelt prayer was granted, as he and his wife were blessed with a son, Sapphire was quick to notice that his colours were exactly the same as those of the blue rose in the rose garden and the colours which his ancestor Branch was said to have had. Seeing this the King had kept his promise to the spirits of his wife’s ancestors, he with Rosiepuff’s blessing named his son Branch. Sapphire also made sure to keep the other part of his promise, he prayed every day that his son would one day meet his Creek.

The three trolls were a very happy family together, the King and Queen loved their only son with all of their hearts and as he grew up Branch was very close to both his parents. His father made sure to teach him all the skills a young prince might need in life and his mother taught him the history of their family, she also passes down the healing skills which had run in her family ever since the first Branch. When the prince was ten years old King Sapphire became suddenly very ill, despite the best efforts of the healers of the castle and his wife the King unfortunately quickly passed away from his illness. Both the prince and Queen mourned his passing for many years and whenever Branch felt the need to talk to the father he missed the blue troll would sit at the end of him tomb with his back against it and talk to his father’s spirit.

Five years after King Sapphire died Queen Rosiepuff met King Opal he came from a kingdom across the mountains he was a truly handsome troll, he had a shimmering body of many colours, his hair also glittered and it was perhaps unsurprising that his good looks turned the lonely Queens head. The two monarchs had only known each other for a few months when they were married and it was only once they were married that the sparkling troll started to show his true colours. King Opal was only concerned with being the most handsome troll in all the kingdoms, so much so that any troll he felt was better looking than himself was exiled from the two kingdoms. Opal had a magic mirror with him and as long as this magic mirror told him that he was the most handsome of all trolls in the kingdoms then he was satisfied.

Despite the fact that the mirror told the King that he was the most handsome troll in all of the kingdoms Opal was instantly envious of his stepson Branch, he felt that the blue troll was already becoming quite handsome, the sparkling troll was sure that the prince would one day become better looking than himself. One day when Branch was eighteen the King asked the question he hadn’t asked the mirror for years, he asked it because Opal felt that it was possible that Branch was now more handsome than him and the King wanted to see if his intuition was correct. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most handsome troll of them all?”

A grotesque orange face appeared in the mirror and answered this question. “You my King are a handsome troll it is true, but prince Branch is more handsome than you.”

Opal let out a cry of pure furry, he quickly stalked away from the mirror into the main room of his sweet of rooms, the King was contemplating what he was going to do about this situation. Since the shimmering troll couldn’t exile his stepson in the way he did all other troll who might out strip him in looks, then slowly an evil idea came to Opal, the King called his huntsman to him. The huntsman entered the shimmering troll’s rooms, the green bowed formally to his King and then addressed him with the upmost respect. “You summoned me sire?”

“Yes, I want you to take prince Branch into the forest and kill him. I will tell Queen Rosiepuff that there was terrible accident with a wild creature in the forest and the prince died. If you do not do this I will you and all your family punished do you understand?” 

The huntsman swallowed hard, he knew that the King would go through with his threat if he didn’t obey the him so the green troll bowed to Opal and said to him. “I understand.” The huntsman straitened up from his bow, he quickly left the room as he walked the huntsman turned different thoughts over in his mind, the green troll didn’t want to kill the young prince, as Branch was a kind and gentle soul who didn’t deserve to die because of his stepfather’s envy of him. The huntsman wondered if their might be some way that he could make sure that the prince was safe and out of the reach of his stepfather.

As he had been ordered to by the King the troll huntsman took the prince into the forest, for once Branch was dressed in something other than the plain clothes which his stepfather insisted that he ware, today he wore a royal blue shirt with balloon sleeves, tied at the wrists, it opened at the neck in quiet a deep v, this part was crisscrossed with beep blue ribbon to hold it closed but it was not tied closed at the top. The prince also wore neat, long dark blue trousers and in his hair were it went inwards before going back out what a teal blue simple band. As the huntsman watched the blue troll exploring the forest ahead of him, the green troll found himself smiling, the prince was so innocent and joyful, then and there the huntsman knew he really couldn’t harm him as the King wanted him to. Realising this the green troll quickly grabbed the arm of the younger troll, the huntsman turned the prince towards him and said to him in hurried and frightened tones. “Your stepfather the King wanted me to kill you, but I can’t do that to you, prince Branch you need to run, run as far away as you can! Go!”

Seeing the absolute seriousness on the other troll’s face he didn’t need to be told twice, Branch quickly ran into the forest, he just kept on running and running. The blue troll wasn’t sure how long he ran for but by the time that the prince found himself in a clearing which contained a cottage he was completely and utterly exhausted. There were nine trolls standing in the clearing, they all turned to stare at the blue troll as he burst out of the forest, they instantly noticed that he was breathing hard, they watched with shock as Branch collapsed down onto his knees and wept while he shivered and shook. Slowly a pink troll crossed the clearing, she placed a hand onto the shoulder of the other troll, he looked up at her slowly and she said to him as gently as possible. “Are you another victim of King Opal?”

Branch gave her a nod, her pink eyes filled with compassion and she gently helped the other troll back up onto his feet. “Come in side, you poor thing.”

The rest of the trolls gathered round him, as they were all of them were victims of the King themselves so they knew what he was going through. The nine trolls couldn’t help but feel that having to run for his life through the forest would not be an easy thing for any troll to experience. The pink troll carefully settled the shaking troll into a chair by the fire, a shimmering troll brought him a mug of water and pressed it into his hands. Branch gave him a small smile, he sipped the water, once the blue troll had finished the water he turned to them all and said softly. “Who are all of you?”

The pink troll gave him a wide smile and introduced herself to him. “I’m Poppy.”

Next was a large blue troll. “Biggie.”

After this the four legged troll wearing a cap spoke up. “I am cooper.”

Then two trolls with their hair joined at the top spoke to the blue troll together. “Satin and Chenille.”

This introduction was followed by a little yellow troll who spoke to Branch with a very deep voice. “I’m Smidge.”

A troll who was mostly hair grumbled out his answer to the question from the prince, but somehow Branch understood exactly what he said perfectly as being. “Fuzzbert.”

Then the bright red pink troll addressed him. “I’m Suki.”

Lastly was the shimmering troll who had given the prince water earlier. “And I am Guy.”

“And who are you?” Poppy asked him as gently as possible.

“Branch…” He whispered.

The eyes of all nine trolls went wide and Guy said clearly shocked. “Prince Branch?”

“Yes, my stepfather wanted to kill me but I ran away…I’m sorry I should probably go in case King Opal comes after me, I wouldn’t want any other trolls to be hurt because of me.” As he spoke the prince stood up on his shaking legs clearly intending to leave.

“You are not going anywhere.” Poppy and Guy told him at the same time, they looked at each other, the two trolls chuckled, it was the sparkling troll who placed his hands onto the shoulders of the prince and pushed him back down onto the chair and he then spoke gently but firmly to Branch. “You will be far safer here with us then out in the forest by yourself. We have all been exiled by Opal, some of us for our beauty and others for trying to stand up to his tyranny, so we are all the same as you and you are welcome amongst us prince Branch.”

The blue troll blushed as Guy used his title and then spoke. “Please just call me Branch.”

“Branch it is then.” Poppy said with a large smile for the blue troll.

Over the next few weeks the prince settled well into life with the other eight trolls, he soon discovered that each one of the trolls had a different job which they took care of, they did this in order to make their lives comfortable and earn what was needed to keep give them enough to live on. Biggie kept the cottage clean, he also cooked the meals, Fuzzbert grew vegetables and herbs for them to eat and anything which was spare was taken to town by Cooper and Poppy to be sold. The twins would turn fabric which these two trolls brought home into clothes for them all to ware, bags of varying sizes to store things or carry things around in. Satin and Chenille would also give anything which they made that wasn’t needed by the other trolls to be sold in town with the herbs and vegetables. Suki loved music, the orange haired troll would spend a lot of her time writing songs and Suki’s music was taken into town were it to was sold. Smidge and Guy would spend time gathering things which were needed for various things from the forest, Branch liked to go into the forest with them, soon he loved the forest which had once frightened him. The prince learnt a lot about the forest from both Smidge and Guy, both of these troll soon discovered that Branch was able to gain the trust of the wild animals of the forest and could even communicate with them. As much as both Guy and Smidge wanted to ask him how it was that he could do this and after a short discussion between the two of them they had decided not to ask the prince about his gift.

Soon the blue troll was also going out into the forest to gather things by himself, Branch made sure that when he did go to do this the other trolls knew which part of the forest he would be in and how long he would be gone for. If the trolls suspected that King Opal was searching for the prince then he would stay at home in the cottage where it was safe, whenever Branch was left in the cottage by the rest of the trolls he would take care of Biggie’s work around the cottage, then read the books which the other trolls brought back from town for him. The blue troll also learnt to embroider from the twins and he turned out to be very skilled at it soon enough Satin and Chenille were giving the prince things to embroider with the detailed patterns which Branch seemed to create out of his own imagination.

It didn’t take the blue troll to make friends with all of the other nine trolls, he liked each one of them and they liked him in return, together they made a happy home, all of the ten trolls treated each other as though they were one big family and the prince loved this fact about his new situation. The nine trolls soon discovered that the prince had a wonderful singing voice, all of them liked to listen to Branch whenever he sang and they would often encourage him to sing. The ten trolls loved to sing together, Suki started to write songs for them to sing together and she also took great pleasure in composing songs for Branch to sing.

As much as the prince loved his new life, he did miss his mother very much, but Branch knew that he couldn’t let his mother know that he was alive and alright. The blue troll also wished he was still able to go and sit and talk with his long gone father as he had often liked to when he had things on his mind. Poppy had been the one to notice that something was bothering the prince, she settled on a chair next to him one day and said to him. “What’s wrong Branch?”

The blue troll sighed deeply and said sadly to the other troll. “I miss my mother and wish I could tell her I am alright…I know it’s not possible but I still wish I could.”

Poppy swallowed hard and then spoke to the troll sitting beside her. “I’m sorry Branch, King Opal has told your mother you are dead…I’m sorry, so sorry.”

“I should have guessed that he would tell my mother that…I miss being able to talk to my father too, I’d often go to his tomb and sit and talk to his spirit about anything and everything.” The prince said very sadly to his friend.

The pink troll placed an arm around the shoulders of the blue troll and said to him. “You know, I believe that when we lose those we love that their spirit is always with us no matter where we go…I’m sure that your father is with you Branch.”

Slowly the prince smiled at the pink troll. “Thank you Poppy…It is good to think that my father is still with me even though I am no longer at home.” That night Branch slept far better than he had in a long time, he dreamt that he was walking through the garden of the castle with his father’s spirit. The King led his son to the magical rose garden, as Sapphire faded from his sons sight another troll appeared, this troll was glowing purple which made it hard for Branch to see anything of the other troll but he felt that whoever this was they were going to be important to him. When the prince woke in the morning he made sure to write the dream down to make sure that he wouldn’t forget any part of it.

As he lay in bed that morning Branch pulled out of his blue hair two gold crown rings on a gold chain, after his father had passed away his mother Queen Rosiepuff had given them to him and told Branch that these two rings were the very ones which had been worn by his name sake and his beastly King. The blue troll took good care of the rings, he felt that for some reason they would be important to his future, the prince wasn’t sure why he felt this way but he didn’t question his feelings about the rings. After staring at the two rings for a while as he thought about the dream Branch had then quickly put them back into his hair for safe keeping.


	2. Chapter two

Chapter two:

A few days after this discussion with Poppy and the strange dream Branch was in the forest when he came across a purple troll, the first thing the blue troll thought about this other troll was that he was extremely handsome. Branch quickly realised that the purple troll was clearly unconscious but the prince couldn’t see if he was hurt in any way at this time. Concerned for this other troll the blue troll knelt down beside him, one of the glow bugs landed on his shoulder, it made a few noises at the prince, Branch shook his head and said. “I’m not too sure what’s wrong with him yet.” Carefully the blue troll pealed some of the clothing away from the purple troll, in order to see what was wrong with the other troll, he soon found that there was a mark on the arm of the prince. Branch looked at the mark closely, he quickly realised it was from the yellow thorn plant which though not deadly would make this troll feel terrible for days to come. The blue troll felt pity for this poor troll, he couldn’t help but wonder if like himself and his adopted family this was yet another troll who had been the victim of his stepfathers insane need to be the most handsome troll of them all.

Branch opened the bag he was carrying with him, in it was his usual stock of emergency supplies which he always carried with him, the blue troll carefully brought out of it herbs he knew would help the other troll. Gently the prince pressed the herbs to the wound, making sure to cover all of the injury and then wrapped a bandage firmly around the purple troll’s arm. Carefully Branch eased the other troll up into his arms, he carried the purple troll through the forest and back to the cottage, when the prince arrived at the cottage, his adopted family came straight over to him and they all looked down at the purple troll in his arms. “Were did you find him Branch?” Suki asked with concern clear on her face.

Branch quickly answered this question from the other troll. “I found him in the forest, he had a wound from a yellow thorn plant, he will be rather unwell for the next few days and I couldn’t just leave him in the forest to suffer.”

“Of course you couldn’t.” Poppy said firmly but kindly.

The prince gave her a grateful look as the pink troll said this, he carried the purple troll into the cottage, the other nine trolls quickly made up a bed for the ill troll, Branch gave them all a smile, he lowered him down into the bed and covered him over. “I’ll make sure to look after him.” The blue troll told the other trolls.

Branch kept his word to his new family, he diligently nursed the purple troll through his illness which lasted for the next week. It was at the start of the second week slowly the purple troll’s eyes opened and the prince had to sit on the gasp which wanted to escape him, as he’d never seen such wonderful blue grey eyes before. Slowly the blue troll smiled down at him, he addressed the other troll softly well aware that his head would still be tender at the moment. “Hello there, it’s good to see you are awake at last. I found you out in the forest, you were stung by a yellow thorn plant and have been unwell for a week.”

“Thank you, for taking care of me while I was unwell.” The purple troll said in a small croaky voice.

“Would you like some water?”

“Please.” As he said this the purple troll couldn’t help but admire this blue country troll, he was very handsome and clearly unlike so many other trolls he had met before now was completely unaware of his good looks.

Carefully Branch helped him to sit up, the blue troll then aided the other troll to drink the water, before assisting him to lay back down. “I’m Branch and you are?”

“I am prince Creek.” He told the other troll, as he yawned widely.

“Get some more rest, we can talk some more when you next wake up.” The purple troll gave him a nod, he closed his eyes and instantly fell back to sleep.

While Creek had slept once more Branch and the other nine trolls had talked about what they would tell the prince about the blue troll, they had decided not to tell Creek that Branch was the prince of the nearby kingdom in case he was somehow found by King Opal or one of his minions and said something to them about Branch. Instead they would stick to half truths, these being that Branch had been forced to flee his home because of the King’s obsession with being the most handsome troll and that he was named for the hero of the story of the beastly prince.

 

When Creek woke again, it was to a heavenly voice singing a lavenders blue, the purple prince opened his eyes and found the blue troll who had been sitting by his side stirring a large cooking pot hanging over the fire. Creek lay there watching him as he worked and sung, he had thought that the blue troll was a dream, but he quiet clearly wasn’t and this fact made the purple prince extremely happy. Branch turned towards the bed, when he noticed that the other troll was awake the blue troll came over to the side of the bed and smiled down ta him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better than I did, thank you for taking care of me…I’ll admit I am hungry.” As he spoke the tummy of the purple troll grumbled loudly which caused Creek to blush a deep shade of purple.

Branch chuckled when this happened, he walked back over to the large pot, he ladled out some soup into the bowl, found a spoon and came back over to the bed. The blue troll placed it the bowl of soup to one side, he helped Creek to sit up in bed, he then handed the soup over to Creek and then said to the other troll. “It will be hot so be careful. Now I have taken care of you I had better start dishing up dinner for everyone else.”

“Everyone else?” Creek asked him curiously.

“Yes my adopted family, there are ten of us all together, I have been taking care of you so that they could all carry on with their work. If it’s not to rude of me to ask why were you out in the forest in the first place?” Branch asked this question with clear interest.

The purple troll found himself blushing again as the blue troll asked him this question. “I’ve been searching for a troll to take as my life mate but I have not found that one troll for me.” After he had confessed this to Branch the prince started to eat the very tasty vegetable soup which the blue troll had given him.

“Well I wouldn’t recommend going to the west during your search, the kingdom of King Opal is in that direction and he is completely obsessed with being the most handsome of all of the trolls in the kingdom and those who are more handsome than himself are always in danger.”

“Is that what happened to you?” Creek stopped eating his soup for a moment to ask the other troll this question.

The blue troll didn’t answer this question verbally instead he just gave him a nod and then said. “It also happened to some of the other members of my family and then there are other in my family who tried to stand up to him which didn’t end well for them either.”

Creek met the teal eyes of the other troll and he could see the seriousness in them. “I’ll remember your advice.” After he had spoken the purple troll finished eating his soup and Branch came over to collect the bowl from him.

Before either of the two trolls could say anything more, the rest of the trolls arrived home, they all happily greeted Branch, the blue troll greeted them back, he dished up the soup for each of them and then said to his family. “Prince Creek is awake and much better.”

They all turned in the direction of the purple troll and then one by one the nine trolls introduced themselves to him. Creek could see that they were trying to judge if he might be a threat to them, after what Branch had told him about their pasts he wasn’t to surprised that they would want to make sure that he wasn’t any kind of danger to them. The purple prince quickly smiled at them, he was trying his best with his body language and this smile to convey to the nine other trolls that he was not a threat to them in any way. 

As the next few days passed Creek went out of his way to prove to all ten of the trolls but Branch especially that he was no threat to them. As the prince spent more time around the blue troll, the prince had to admit there was something rather special, almost magical about Branch and Creek found himself wanting to get to know the other troll better. Slowly trust came between the prince and all ten of the country trolls, as it did Branch started to let the purple prince accompany him out into the forest with him, it was then that Creek discovered that the other troll could understand the birds, beasts and bugs of the forest and they him. “How do you do that?” The prince asked Branch with curiosity and awe clear in his voice as he asked this question.

The blue troll looked at him for a few moments, shrugged and then said truthfully. “I’ve always been able to…It’s not a gift I have ever thought about before.”

“It’s amazing…”

Branch chuckled, he placed a hand out a little blue glow bug landed on his hand, when his happened the blue troll turned towards Creek and said softly. “This is Bell she is my special friend.”  
“Hello Bell.” The prince said politely to the little bug, she chittered at him, then skittered up Branch’s arm and settled on the top of the blue troll’s hair.

Branch chuckled at the bug and then addressed the prince. “She likes to be up there. So I have to ask will you be leaving us to carry on for your search for that one special troll soon?”

“I was hoping that I could stay with you all for a while longer.”

“Oh why?”

“I like it here…”

The blue troll gave him a nod of understanding. “Well that is understandable it can be very peaceful out here in the forest and it is a good place to think about anything which might be bothering you.”

“Yes it is peaceful here and you are right being here in the forest is letting me think about what it is I want exactly from my life mate.” Even as Creek said these words he knew that these weren’t the real reason he wanted to stay here in the forest, the prince wanted to stay here because he was finding himself very attracted to the blue troll. Branch was everything which the purple troll had been searching for and thought he would never find no matter how hard he looked. Despite feeling like this Creek wanted to make sure that he truly had found the right troll for him at long last in Branch.

 

One day a few days after this conversation in the forest, Creek sat watching Branch as he was sitting by the fire in the cottage embroidering one of the bags the twins had made and he asked the blue troll. “The others were very concerned that you stay inside the cottage today, why is that Branch?”

“They are worried that King Opal is still looking for me because I escaped before he could punish me for being more handsome than him…” When Branch had finished speaking, the blue troll shuddered with fear.

Noticing the way that the other troll shivered and the look of fear on his face Creek addressed him. “Oh…I had thought perhaps you were exaggerating King Opal’s tendency to come after those who are more handsome than him but I can see now that you weren’t exaggerating it at all.”

Branch looked at him for a long while and then said quietly but very sadly. “As you say now you know I wasn’t exaggerating, as far as we know the King thinks I died in the forest, but the others feel he might just be saying that and he is in fact still has trolls looking for me. If my family become aware of the fact that there are other trolls out in the forest who they think might be looking for me then they make me stay inside where it’s safe.”

“You know your name is an unusual one.” Creek said to the other troll trying to steer the conversation away from a subject which was clearly distressing to the other troll.

“I was named for a hero of a story in my home kingdom.”

As the blue troll told him this comprehension dawned on the face of the prince and he said to the other troll. “Oh wait, Branch he’s the peasant troll who saved King Creek from his beast curse isn’t he?”

Branch gave the other troll a nod before he spoke. “Yes, that’s the one, my parents hoped that by naming me for him I would maybe grow up to be a little like him.”

“I can certainly seem to have some of the attributes Branch was said to have in you.”

“Thank you.” The blue troll blushed as the prince complimented him in this way and then said. “What about you…Were you named for the beastly King?”

The purple troll laughed when Branch asked this question of him. “No, my mother just really liked the name…I don’t think she realised she had named me after someone with a story attached to them until many years later. Though it is ironic that we both have their names.”

“Yes it is ironic, if your mother didn’t know the story of the beastly King, then your home must be very far away from here.”

“Why do you say that?” Creek asked his blue companion curiously.

Branch answered this question quickly. “Well it’s just that most kingdoms around the Dawn-song one know the story of the beast King…Were are you from?”

“You are right I am from far away from here, my kingdom is beyond the mountains to the south of here.” Creek explained to the other troll.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Yes, I have a younger sister and you?”

The blue troll shook his head. “No, I’m an only child, or I was until I found my new adopted family, I wouldn’t be without them now.”

“Yes the ten of you do seem to make a good family.” Creek said with a smile for the other troll Branch smiled back then carried on with his embroidery, the purple troll looked at his work and couldn’t help but stair at the purple roses on thorny tendrils which were woven in a celtic knot pattern behind the roses which were now going along one side of the deep blue bag. “That’s a very beautiful pattern Branch.”

“Oh thank you, it took me a long time to get the pattern just right.” After this the two trolls fell into a companionable silence and when Branch’s adopted family arrived home they couldn’t help but notice how content the two male troll’s looked together and they all shared knowing smiles.  
That night when Branch slept he was in the rose garden again, the blue and purple roses were glowing, he bent over one of the purple ones and gently touched its petals. A glowing purple hand landed on his left shoulder and Branch could see that the middle finger of this hand had one of the gold crown rings on it. The blue troll gulped, as he lifted his left hand he realised it was glowing with blue light and his middle finger was also encircled by one of the gold crown rings, Branch placed his hand over the one on his shoulder and lent back slightly into the other troll behind him. The blue troll felt utterly peaceful, loved and completely safe in this moment and Branch wish whole heartedly that whoever this was would say something to him. When he woke up in the morning the blue troll made sure to write this dream down as he had done with the dream before it.

Having the dream had made Branch extremely happy, this caused him to sing, this was only the second time that the prince had heard the blue troll sing and he was as he had been the first time astounded by his angelic voice. Creek had never heard such a beautiful voice before now and it reached inside him and touched something but what it was Branch’s singing touched the purple troll couldn’t quiet say. Creek had to admit that he was starting to feel that after all the years he had spent searching for that one special troll he might have found him at long last.


	3. Chapter three

Chapter three:

One evening a week and a half after this Creek was standing beside Branch in the forest, when gently the prince slipped his hand into that of the blue troll, Branch jumped he looked down at the hand holding his and then turned his startled gaze onto Creek. The purple troll smiled softly at the country troll, slowly the blue troll smiled back, Branch had to admit that at first he had been concerned that the handsome prince would turn out to be just like his stepfather Opal, but the blue troll had come to see to his relief that the other troll was nothing like the King. Branch knew that now he felt sure that Creek was nothing like his stepfather, he was developing romantic feelings for the other troll, until now the blue troll had kept his feelings for the other troll hidden as Creek had made it clear he was looking for his life mate and Branch hadn’t felt that there was the slightest chance that the prince would choose him. Now that the prince had made this first move the blue troll felt that perhaps it was time that in return he let his own feelings start to show, so Branch tightened his hand around that of the other troll and smiled at him a little more widely then before.

Neither of the trolls said a word about what was happening between them, instead they walked through the forest together hand, in hand just letting themselves enjoy the simple act of holding hands. Both of the male trolls could hardly believe just how right it felt for them to hold hands, they both knew that this simple act was the beginning of something special between them. Soon the two trolls were holding hands regularly, this fact was soon noticed by Branch’s adopted family, it was Poppy and Guy who pulled the prince to one side, with one look at their face Creek knew that this was going to be a very serious conversation, it was the pink troll who was the one to speak to the purple troll first. “You had best not hurt our brother, because Branch has been through quiet enough already with King Opal trying to end his life and having to flee from his home to escape him.”

“I shall do my best not to hurt him.” Creek promised them, even as he realised for the first time that King Opal was a deadly threat to the troll he was starting to care a great deal for, this realisation made him feel cold dread well up inside him.

Guy gave the prince a deadly smile as he addressed him. “Good because if you do hurt Branch I will make sure that you regret it.”

The purple troll knew that this sparkling troll was very serious in his words, Creek gave him a nod of understanding as he said. “I would expect nothing less.”  
“Good then we understand each other.”

Poppy rolled her eyes at the two male trolls and then addressed the prince again. “Go slowly and gently with Branch that’s all I ask.”

“I will do my best not to rush him I promise Poppy, I can tell that Branch is a gentle soul who has been hurt greatly.”

The pink troll gave him a warm smile and an approving nod. “Good I am glad to hear you say that.”  
With their warnings given to Creek and promises extracted from the prince they released him to go back to Branch, as he walked away from them Guy looked down at Poppy next to him and spoke to her in low tones. “Do you think they will be alright?”

“With King Opal still out there it’s hard to say for sure, but there is clearly something very special going on between those two, that much is for sure and whatever it is hopefully that will see Branch and Creek through whatever might happen to them at the hands of King Opal.”

“Do you really think King Opal will come after Branch, even after all this time?” As Guy asked Poppy this question the worry he felt about this fact was clear in his voice.

The pink troll gave him a nod and then addressed the shimmering troll. “I think that if King Opal discovers that Branch is still alive then he will try to kill him again…I’ve never known him to be this vindictive before now but King Opal clearly wanted to make sure Branch died…So he will not be pleased should he ever discover that Branch has survived.”

Guy slowly put his hand into Poppy’s, the pink troll looked up at him with surprise, the shimmering troll looked down at her, he tightened his grip on the hand of the pink troll and then said softly but determinedly to her. “Then we shall just have to do our best to keep him safe from King Opal.”

“Yes we shall.” As she spoke the pink troll gently rested her head onto the shimmering trolls shoulder, she let out a contented sigh, this moment was perfect Poppy decided, Guy felt so right standing beside her as she watched Creek and Branch, as well as the rest of her adopted family sitting together happily sharing a meal together.

“Poppy…When King Opal finally dies…Would you come home with me?” As Guy asked the question his nervousness was clear in the way his voice shook and the sparkling troll blushed slightly but found himself feeling glad that he had asked this question of the pink troll.

Poppy was thoughtful for a few moments before she answered this question from the shimmering troll at her side. “I’d like to see if I can find my father when Opal dies…But after I have found out where he is or what happened to him, then yes I’d be honoured to go home with you.”

The sparkling troll smiled down at her, Guy then placed a gentle kiss onto the top of her head before he let out a relived sigh and said to her softly. “Thank you for agreeing to come home with me. I look forward to being able to show you my home country one day.”

Branch had noticed Guy and Poppy standing together, he smiled the two of them, the blue troll felt that the two of them made quiet the adorable couple, they were after all like the mother and father of their little family, the blue troll could see how they would make a wonderful married couple and in time good parents to their children. As he watched these two clearly well matched troll’s standing together Branch hoped with all of his heart that Poppy and Guy would be able to one day build a happy future together. 

Creek took Branch’s hand into his, causing the blue troll to turn his teal eyes away from the other two trolls he had been focused on until now and onto him. Smiling softly the prince lifted the hand he was holding and kissed the back of it, when the purple troll did this to him the country troll blushed a deep shade of blue but smiled widely at Creek, before he then returned this gesture. The prince smiled back at Branch, it was another simple act between them but once more it felt so right to both of the male trolls to do this.

That night it was not Branch who dreamt but Creek, he was in a garden, he had never seen this garden before now, all around him were rose bushes the blooms of some of them were purple exactly the same shade as himself and the others were blue in exactly the same colour of Branch. The prince walked over to the blue rose, he touched it gently, the rose glowed under his fingertips and then from behind Creek came a male voice he didn’t recognise. “I prayed for you.”

Startled the purple troll turned around, standing behind him was a ghostly deep blue troll, he was dressed magnificently, he looked like a King and he also looked a lot like Branch. This ghostly troll smiled at him softly, he walked across to Creek, gently the ghostly troll pushed a glowing blue rose into his two tone hair near the prince’s right ear and then softly the ghostly troll repeated his earlier words. “I prayed for you.”

“Who are you?” Creek asked him with wide eyes as he reached up to touch the rose in his hair.  
The ghostly blue troll smiled at him again, then he faded from sight right along with the garden leaving Creek alone in the darkness, then suddenly the shadowy space was suddenly lit by the blue rose in his hair. Carefully the prince removed the rose from his hair, when he looked at it he could see that slowly rotating around the stem of the blue rose was a golden crown ring. Creek touched the ring he was surprised to find that it felt solid under his touch, the purple troll frowned he was sure that this ring should mean something to him or that he had seen the ring somewhere but the prince couldn’t place the ring right now. 

When Creek woke in the morning, he dream from the night before had left him feeling a little strange, when the prince sat up he found in his hand the blue rose from the night before and the prince stared at it with complete surprise. The prince wasn’t sure why this rose had been left with him, or what the dream meant, but somehow Creek did know that this flower was very special and the dream was very important. The purple troll kept the blue rose hidden in his hair, later that day when Branch and himself were walking in the forest hand in hand as they done so many times before, the prince brought them to a halt, he let go of the hand of the blue troll he had been holding, Creek brought the blue rose out of his hair and then held the rose out to the country troll. “Here…I want you to have this.” Before the blue troll could say a word to him Creek had slipped it into his hair by his left ear, the prince then stood back and admired the rose in his hair. “Yes, just as I thought it looks wonderful in your hair.”

“Thank you Creek it’s beautiful.” Branch said softly, blushing as he reaching up to touch the blue rose which was now settled over his left ear and in his hair. “I’m afraid that I don’t have something to give you in return.”

“I don’t need anything in return, I’m just glad to see that you like my gift.”

The blue troll smiled at the prince, he then impulsively hugged the other troll gently but firmly, for a moment Creek was frozen with surprise, slowly the prince broke out of his surprise and then the purple troll hugged Branch back. As the prince hugged him back the country troll let out a very happy sigh, he then burrowed close to Creek to Branch doing this with the other troll felt utterly blissful. As the prince looked down at the blue troll in his arms he felt a feeling of happiness and joy go through him and he just wanted to keep on hugging Branch close to him like this forever.

Their hug was broken a few moments later when several little brown birds flew down and started twittering urgently at Branch, he looked at them his eyes going wide and his skin draining a lighter shade of blue. Noticing this fact Creek was instantly on the alert and said to the other troll with concern clear in his voice. “Branch what is it, what’s wrong?”

“They’ve seen some of King Opal’s troll guard’s men near here! We need to go now!” Branch quickly took Creek’s hand they dashed back to the cottage and once they were there the two trolls made sure to secured themselves inside the cottage away from the guards.

Creek could see that Branch was shaking with fear, it made him fill with furry to see the way the country troll was shaking with fear and it also made the prince want to comfort the other troll until that fear passed. Carefully the purple troll gathered Branch into his arms, he hugged him close and stroking over his royal blue hair offering the other troll as much comfort as he could. “It’s alright, they aren’t going to find you and if they do come here I’ll answer the door and tell them you’re not here and you never have been.”

“Thank you Creek.” Branch said simply as he burrowed closer to the prince and let him hold him close until his fear had at long last left him. “I hate the way that knowing King Opal might still be looking for me makes me feel.” The Blue troll confessed to the prince holding him.  
“As far as I can see your fear of King Opal is completely justifiable.” 

Slowly Branch pulled back slightly from Creek, he looked at him and said softly. “Thank you for being so understanding.” One he had said this Branch to the prince he then found enough of his courage and placed a kiss to the cheek of the purple troll. 

When the blue troll did this he blushed slightly, once the country troll drew back from kissing him on the cheek, Creek looked down at the other troll and then said softly. “Branch, can I kiss you?”  
The blue troll gave him a nod, slowly and gently Creek placed his lips to those of Branch, making sure not to overwhelm him as they kissed each other for this first time. The blue troll let out a sigh of contentment this felt wonderful as far as he was concerned, gathering up his courage Branch started to kiss Creek back which drew a pleased hum from the prince. Their arms wound around each other, they became more lost in the act of kissing each other, their lips moved slowly but gently against each other’s in a new but wonderful dance. After a while the two trolls broke the kiss, they shared a smile and leant their foreheads together just letting themselves bath in the feelings of how right and at peace they felt together.

 

Far away from the cottage back in Branch’s old home kingdom King Opal was in his castle, after Branch had died Rosiepuff having suffered now not only the loss of her husband, but now her son she had retired from life to mourn the them both. Which left the evil King to run the kingdom as he had seen fit, the shimmering troll loved being in control of the kingdom, as now there were no troll’s left within its borders to challenge him in looks. King Opal was still very concerned about the young prince, the huntsman had never returned to the castle in order to confirm his death and then the huntsman and his family had vanished from the kingdom. These facts had left King Opal suspicious that the huntsman had not killed the young prince as he had ordered him to, so in order to make sure the prince was dead the sparkling troll had sent many of his loyal men to look for the prince in the nearby forest, as well as the areas around it but they had found no sign of him anywhere. Branch had not returned to the castle either, which had been something that the King had expected the prince to do and for the longest time both of these facts made the King feel that it was more than likely that the young prince was dead in the forest somewhere and all he needed was the proof of this to make him feel completely confident of this fact. So it was that every so often the King sent his guards out into the forest just to make sure that there was no sign of the prince or a sign that Branch had died in the forest as he hoped the blue troll had. 

Today though the shimmering troll was feeling even more on edge about the fate of Branch, as his men had not been able to find out the answer to weather the prince was alive or not, he felt it was best to use the mirror to make absolutely sure that the blue troll was dead. Quickly King Opal made his way to the room were the magic mirror was held, the sparkling troll stood before the mirror and addressed it. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most handsome troll of them all?”

One again a grotesque orange face appeared in the mirror and answered this question. “You my King are a handsome troll it is true, but prince Branch is more handsome than you.” Once it had finished saying this the mirror then showed the King an image of the prince, he stood in a forest clearing with a simple cottage behind him.

King Opal was unable to believe that the blue troll was somehow still alive and he felt anger flare in him, in that moment the King felt that it was a very good thing the huntsman had fled the kingdom because the shimmering troll would have punished him severally for letting the prince live. After thinking about what he was going to do about his discovery Opal decided that he wouldn’t use his men to kill Branch this time, instead he would find the cottage were the blue troll was living himself and then he would devise a way to end the life of the prince once and for all.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter four:

Completely unaware of the fact that the King had discovered that Branch was still alive life for the ten trolls and their princely visitor had continued on as normal. The blue and purple troll had soon come to the realisation that the blue rose Creek had given Branch was magical and it made the blue troll treasure it even more than he did before. Branch had thought about asking the prince were the rose had come from, but part of him didn’t want to know, part of him wanted to believe that this rose had somehow come from the spirit of his father through Creek. The feelings of love which the two male trolls had been feeling for each other had grown stronger as time had passed them by, although neither troll had said anything to the other about their feelings they and the other troll’s all knew those romantic feelings were there and that when the time was right they would tell each other of those feelings. 

By the time that a month had passed since the purple troll had been found by Branch and nursed back to health by him, the prince had decided that he had indeed found the troll he wished to make his life partner, the purple troll felt the strange dream and the magical rose he had received from the ghostly troll was a conformation of this fact. Creek felt sure that the other troll had romantic feelings for him too and knowing how he felt about Branch the purple troll wanted to find out if his suspicion that the country troll cared for him in a romantic way was correct.

That evening the prince took Branch out into the forest to the lake, together they sat down by the side of the lake, the purple troll pulled the one he loved into his lap, Creek rested Branch against his chest while he placed his own back to a tree. The country troll smiled to himself he felt utterly content, as well as totally safe, Branch knew that no matter what Creek would protect him from all harm. Then as the prince started to run his fingers through his hair Branch let out a little shiver of pleasure and a few moments later the country troll let out a deep satisfied sigh. Creek smiled down at the blue troll he loved seeing him looking so relaxed and content, after a few moments the prince addressed the other troll. “Branch, I love you and I would like to choose you to be my life mate.”

Branch was quiet for a few moments not sure that he had heard the prince say what he had, as he realised that Creek really had just told him that he loved him and wanted to choose him as his life mate he quickly sat up, hastily the blue troll turned around, he looked at the other troll with wide eyes and then asked him. “Creek…Do you mean that?” The purple troll gave him a reassuring nod, as he did this a wide truly happy smile came onto Branch’s face and then said to the one he had fallen in love with. “I wasn’t expecting you to say that…I love you too and would be honoured to become your life mate.”

“Really…?” The prince asked in an awed whisper.

“Yes my love really.”

“My love…I like that my beloved. I will have to leave you to go home and tell my family about you, but I will come back for you Branch, when I do I shall then bring you home with me, were I will make you my husband by doing that I shall put you well beyond King Opal’s reach at last my beloved one. Before you worry that my family will object to my marrying you, what I have done to find you is a tradition amongst my family we always seek out our one and only troll for me that troll is you Branch.”

Branch raised an eyebrow at the purple troll and then said with a little cheeky smile for the one he loved. “You know my love it would be nice if you asked me to marry you rather than told me I would marry you.”

A small chuckle escaped the prince, he blushed, then scratched the back of his head and said to the other troll with some embracement. “You are right I should have asked you to marry me…I will do so after I come back from my family it will give you something to look forward to and a reason to wait for me to come back to you.”

“Indeed it will give me something to look forward to, as for a reason to wait for you to return to me I already have all the reasons I need to wait for you my love. Shall we tell the members of my adopted family that you are going to go home and tell your family that you have chosen me?” 

“Yes I think that is a wise idea to tell them what has happened and what I will be doing, I don’t want them to think I have abandoned you when I have not.” Together the two trolls got up from the forest floor, they joined their hands together and then side by side Branch and Creek walked back to the cottage. When they come in to the home of the nine trolls, they all turned to look at them and as soon as they did so all nine of the trolls could tell that something very important had come to pass between the two of them.

Branch looked to Creek, the prince looked back, the two shared a loving smile, then the purple troll turned towards the other trolls and said to them. “I and Branch have spoken, we have confessed our love to each other and I have told Branch I wish to choose him to be my life mate. Branch has consented to be my life mate, I am going to return to my home kingdom to tell my family that I have found the troll I have been searching for. I have assured Branch that my family will not object to him, it is a long standing tradition amongst my family for us to go out into the world and search for out one troll, what rank this troll has is of no consequence all which matters is that there is love between us which there is…I think in time it might even grow to be the true love of some of the great stories. I have promised Branch that I will come back for him and that when I do I shall make a formal proposal of marriage to him at that time.”

The nine trolls let out cheers of happiness, then they swarmed forward, the nine trolls each hugged the young couple and one by one they congratulated Creek and Branch on the fact that they had found each other and gave their best wishes to them for their future together. All nine of the trolls hoped that the prince would keep his word to come back for the blue troll and then take Branch back to his kingdom far beyond King Opals reach and marry him. That night all of the eleven trolls celebrated this wonderful news in typical troll style, they sung, and they danced until it was very late and they had no energy left to go on with the celebration.

Two days after this Creek was at last ready to start his journey home, the prince didn’t want to be parted from Branch but he knew it would be best for him to make the journey home alone, tell his family his wonderful news, then prepare everything for the arrival of his life mate and then come back with comfortable transport for the other troll to return home with him in. Branch’s adopted family had left the two trolls’ alone to say their farewells, as they felt sure the two in love trolls would not want an audience for this and that after Creek had left Branch would probably want a little time on his own to adjust to the purple troll no longer being with him. “Well my beloved it is time I made my journey home. I promise that I shall be back with you as soon as I can, I hope it will be no more than a few months, if not sooner. Stay safe for me Branch…” The purple troll’s sentence vanished as they both knew why Branch needed to make sure that he kept himself safe so the rest of the words of that sentence did not speaking between the two of them.

“Don’t worry my love I promise both I and my family will do our best to keep me safe for you.” The blue troll assured him, Branch reached up to touch the magical blue rose in his hair and then looked at Creek with love clear in his eyes as he said to the other troll. “I have this wonderful gift to remind me of you, I know you already said you will come back to me as soon as you can but I want you to know, I shall miss you with all of my heart and soul my love.” 

“My beloved Branch you will not be alone in feeling that way because I shall also miss you with all of my heart and soul.” Once he had said this the purple troll kissed the one he loved gently but firmly on the lips, quickly Branch kissed him back, as their lips danced they both hummed with pleasure and wrapped their arms around each other. Creek gently broke this kiss, he gently placed his forehead to Branch’s and then the prince then admitted to the other troll in a soft voice. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you behind and in danger Branch.”

“I know my love, but I also understand because of what you have told me that you need to return home without me first. I am sure that we will see each other in our dreams and I will always be with you Creek, I will be right here…” As Branch said this he lay his hand onto the chest of the prince over his heart and then said to him. “In your heart.”

The purple troll smiled at the one he loved, he placed his hand over that of Branch’s. “Yes you will be here in my heart and I hope we do get to see each other in our dreams.”

The blue troll just smiled not willing to tell the prince that dreaming of the one they loved and were supposed be with was something of a family trait. Branch knew that when the time came he would have to tell Creek the truth of who he was but the hidden prince didn’t think that this was either the right place or time to tell the other prince who he really was. Reluctantly the two trolls drew apart, Creek turned he walked across the clearing, he then turned back towards Branch smiled and gave him a wave. The blue troll smiled, he waved back to the prince, with this last wave Creek then tuned away from the one he loved and started on his journey back home.

When Branch could no longer see Creek the blue troll went back into the cottage, he closed the door to his home behind him, sat down and just let himself miss the one he loved even though he had only just left him. A short while later the nine trolls entered the cottage, seeing Branch looking sad at the loss of the one he loved, they all enveloped the blue troll in a large group hug, slowly he hugged his adopted family back and let their love dull the sharp edged feelings of pain Creek being gone from him caused him. As the trolls drew apart Poppy gently stroked his blue hair and then said to Branch in a soft but strong voice. “Creek will be back for you soon Branch never doubt it.”

“I don’t doubt that my beloved will come back for me as soon as he can. It’s just I already miss him even though he has only been gone a short while, I dread to think how much worse I shall feel after a month. I will confess that I’m also still worried that King Opal will try to do something to me before Creek can come back from me.”

His family hugged him again, they knew that they couldn’t promise Branch that the King wouldn’t make an attempt on his life in some shape or form before the prince could return for him and get him to safety, but the nine trolls all knew that they would do the best they could to keep the hidden prince safe from King Opal until Creek returned for him.

 

It was a week after Creek had left Branch behind in the safety of the nine trolls cottage in the forest clearing that King Opal at last found the place where the prince had been hiding from him. The shimmering troll spent time over the next few days observing the nine trolls from the safety of the cover of the forest, the King made sure that he knew what all of the trolls did and when they did it. Once the glittering troll was sure that he had discovered everything that he needed to know about all of the nine troll’s day to day activities and when might be a good time to strike Opal made his way back to his castle. Once the evil King had made it back to his rooms in the castle he then started to plot as to how he could end the life of the prince. The sparkling troll paced back and forth turning over idea after idea, but none of them felt quiet right or they pointed to obviously to him being the one behind the prince’s demise. One thing was for sure the King couldn’t help but feel that a disguise was going to be necessary but he was good at those so that part of his plan wouldn’t be an issue for him in the slightest.

The King continued to pace, then something came into the mind of the sparkling troll it was a potion, it would drain the troll that drunk it of all their colours, Opal smiled darkly to himself, if he mixed that with a potion which forced the prince to obey him then he could not only make Branch ugly, but also make the blue troll obey him which would mean he could bring the prince back to the castle and control him as well as the kingdom. Opal had to admit that as far as he was concerned this was rather a lovely thought and maybe even a better than the idea of ending the prince’s life strait away. The sparkling troll felt that he could always kill the prince if anyone tried to rescue him or if he grew tired of having the blue troll around. The only question left was how the King was going to get the potion into Branch, after spending some more time thinking about this particular problem the shimmering troll eventually found the solution he would hide this potion in a drink, then he would disguise himself as an old peddler troll, and when the blue troll did something kind for him he would then give the potion to Branch to thank him for his kindness. The King spent a few moments looking back over his plan to see if there were any flaws in it and when he could find some a feeling of satisfaction came over the shimmering troll.

Opal turned his thoughts from this part of his plan onto what he might use to kill the prince if anyone tried to rescue him, after turning over a few more ideas he then remembered a very old but powerful poison, it’s effects were said to only be able to be countered by tears and a kiss of true love. The King pulled a disgusted face, as far as he was concerned every troll knew that there was no such thing as true love in this world, it was just a fantasy for little trolls nothing more and nothing less. The shimmering troll turned his thoughts back to the poison, he recalled that he needed to place this particular poison into an apple for it to be most effective, at least an apple would be fairly easy to find. The King grabbed a red apple from the fruit bowl, he then made his way to the room in which the sparkling troll kept all his supplies to make his potions and the poison.

It took the evil King several days to brew the two potions, he combined them carefully, then poured the sickly green liquid it into a lovely blue glass bottle, he placed this glass bottle amongst others different coloured glass bottles which he had filled with water and settled in a nearby basket. After this Opal made the poisoned apple, it took a week to brew this poison, it had very particular ingredients and complex instructions which had to be followed precisely in order for the poison to have its full effect on its intended victim. When the apple was at last ready the King placed the evil magical fruit into a special silver box, he knew that this fruit would never wither and that it would be safe in the box until he chose to use it on the prince. Now that he had everything ready Opal quickly put on the disguise of an old peddler troll, he picked up the basket and then set off into the forest towards the clearing which contained the cottage of the nine trolls.


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! This chapter and possibly the one following it is going to be angsty and dark! Please don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Chapter five:

King Opal in his disguise as an old peddler troll, with his basket full of bottles carefully made his way through the forest towards the cottage. When the hidden troll had reached the edge of the clearing which contained the cottage he concealed himself in the nearby forest and waited quietly and patiently for all of the trolls to leave Branch all alone in the cottage. He watched closely as they left the cottage and he hadn’t seen the prince go out which meant that this was the perfect time to put his plan into action. Once the disguised troll was sure that all nine of the trolls had gone and the prince was completely on his own, as well as being sure that the other trolls would not be back for a long while Opal came out of hiding, he made sure to tumble out of the forest and call out in distress as he did so. “Hello…Any troll there…Oh dear, oh dear…”

As he heard all of the noise Branch looked around the door of the cottage both with curiosity and concern, as he looked around the clearing the blue troll noticed what appeared to be an old wizened yellow troll, in peasant clothing carrying a basket tumbling out of the forest. This poor old troll, looked confused and lost, there were leaves and sticks in his orange and grey hair, his face was smeared with dirt the prince knew exactly how it felt to be like that and compassion for the other troll filled him. Quickly Branch made his way out into the clearing, he took the old troll’s arm gently but firmly in his and addressed the older troll at the same time. “Here old one let me help you.”

“Thank you, your being so kind to an old troll young one.” The yellow troll let Branch help him over to a bench which stood outside the cottage making sure to lean on him heavily as though he truly needed the help of the other troll.

Once Branch had him carefully settled on the bench, the disguised King carefully placed his basket on the bench by him and the blue troll said to him. “Rest here old one, I will get you some water and a little something to eat.” The prince bustled away from the disguised King, he came back in a short while with a glass of water and a plate on which was some bread and butter which he quickly handed over to the older troll. “Here I’m sorry I didn’t have anything more to give you.”

“No, no, this is more than enough, you’ve kind so very kind to an old troll.” The yellow troll drank all of the water and then slowly ate the bread and butter.

“Do you feel better now?” Branch asks him gently once the yellow troll had finished eating, he nodded at the blue troll and then as the disguised King held the glass and plate out to the prince he took them from him with a gentle smile for the older troll.

The hidden King gave him a nod in answer to this question and then said to him. “Yes young one I feel so much better for the food and drink thank you so much. Let me thank you for your help and give you one of my bottles of special tonic.”

“Oh no really that’s fine I don’t need anything as a form of repayment for helping you.” The blue troll said as he takes the glass and plate away, he walks into the cottage, the prince then places them by the side of the sink and comes back outside to the elderly troll. “Please feel free to rest here as long as you need to before you carry on with your journey.”

The King could feel his anger spiking, he wasn’t about to let this chance to get hold of the prince slip through his fingers and so he tried again to get the other troll to accept his potion. “You are so kind, please take one of my tonics, young one I will feel terrible if you don’t take one after all the help you have rendered me.” The old troll brought out the blue bottle and held out the blue bottle. “Please young one, a gift to say thank you it will make me feel better…I will feel I have repaid your hospitality.”

Branch took the bottle from the old troll and smiled at him he felt very touched by the fact that this troll wanted to give him something for his kindness. “Well if it will make you feel better than thank you. May I ask what does this tonic do exactly?”

“Oh, it is magical tonic, if you drink all of this tonic then all of your dreams will come true.”

“Really?” Branch asked not able to conceal the awe and hope in his voice.

“Yes young one but it will only work properly if you drink all of it.” The old troll assured him.

After hearing this the blue troll took the cork out of the bottle, he quickly swallowed the all of the liquid within the bottle, then suddenly bottle hit the floor as Branch gripped his head, he cried out in pain and then went down onto his knees next to the empty bottle. Grey travelled up over the skin of the blue troll draining it of its teal colour, as Branch hissed through his teeth from the pain his hair turned black. After this had happened the grey troll’s hands dropped away from his head and then slowly he looked up at the disguised King with completely black eyes. As the King noticed that this happened to the younger troll Opal laughed evilly at him, he threw of his disguise, placed his fingers under the chin of the prince and said to him. “Now you are grey, ugly and mine to control aren’t you Branch?”

The grey troll gave the shimmering troll a nod and then said to him robotically. “Yes my King I am ugly and completely under your control.”

The shimmering troll rose to his feat he gestured at the other troll. “Come with me.” The King commanded and obediently Branch got up onto his feet, he followed the King out of the clearing and into the forest heading back to the castle with him.

Once Opal had Branch back at the castle,he had tried to remove the blue rose from Branch’s hair but neither the King or the prince had been able to do so and in the end the King had left the blue rose alone. The sparkling troll had the grey troll change into new clothing, the prince now wore tight black trousers, a tight black top with a low v neck, it had long sleeves with points onto the back of his hands and there was also a simple silver band was in his now black hair at the point where it went in before it came out again. Opal walked the whole way around Branch inspecting him in his new clothes, he let out a noise of satisfaction before saying to the other troll. “Yes you look magnificent like this, so much better than you looked in those common country clothes. Do you like your new clothes to Branch?”

“Yes my King I like my new clothes.”

The glittering troll grinned evilly at the other troll before he said. “Now there is something I want you to understand Branch, if anyone tries to set you free or take you from me, I will give you the apple from this box.” Opal showed him the silver box containing the poisoned apple, he then opened it to show him and spoke to the prince again. “When I give you this apple, you will take a bite from it do you understand what I have told you Branch?”

The grey troll gave the shimmering troll a nod. “Yes my King I understand.”

“Good I’m glad to hear you say that Branch.” As he spoke the glittering troll closed the silver box, he placed it to one side, the King then turned his attention back to the grey troll and then said to him with a devilish smile. “I’m going to manacle and chain you now my prisoner.” Once the shimmering troll had told the prince this, Branch gave him a nod and stood still waiting for the one who had control of him to do as he wished. Seeing the other troll just waiting for him to do to him what he wanted made the evil smile on the face of Opal grow larger and more sinister than it had been before. The sparkling troll crossed the room, he fetched the chains and manacles he was going to use on Branch, the King walked back across the room, when he reached the prince he fastened one manacle around one ankle and then one to the other ankle with a chain running between the two ankles. He placed two more manacles around each wrist of the grey troll with a chain going between them and then the King fastened one last one around the troll’s neck which had a chain leading from it. Opal gave the chain leading from Branch’s neck a tug, the grey troll came forward with this tug, the King gave a noise of satisfaction. “Good you respond well to my control of you Branch, now come with me.” 

The prince gave the shimmering troll a nod, he followed the other troll obediently into the throne room, the King settled onto his throne, he looked to Branch and then said to him commandingly. “Branch you are to be on your knees by the side or just in front of my throne when I am sitting on it do you understand me?”

“Yes my King I understand your command.” As he spoke the grey troll quickly settled on his knees a little way in front of him and he then leant against the legs of the King in a very submissive gesture.

“Good Branch.” Opal said in a praising tone of voice as he stroked a hand over the black hair of the grey troll, the prince leant into this gesture clearly pleased to have pleased his King and this made the shimmering troll smile down at him in a self-satisfied manor.

 

That evening back at the cottage, when the nine trolls arrived home and instantly knew that something was wrong, Suki and the twins went straight inside to look for Branch, Suki noticed the glass and plate by the sink but there was no other sign of the prince downstairs. The twins dashed upstairs to look for the blue troll, but they came back down only a few moments later, they looked at the orange haired troll and shook their heads at her fear clear in their eyes as they did so. Poppy had spotted that there were clothes, as well as the remnants of some form of disguise on the floor by the cottage door and was inspecting them closely for clues as to what might have happened whilst they had been gone. Guy noticed the blue bottle on the ground not far from the other items, he carefully picked it up, sniffed the bottle to see what it contained and then grimaced. The sparkling troll recognized this smell, instantly fear and concern for the prince flared inside him, he knew exactly what had gone on here and as the twins and Suki came back out of the cottage with looks of fear on their face the glittering troll spoke up in a certain tone of voice. “King Opal has taken Branch.”

Cries of disbelief and fear left the other eight trolls and Poppy spoke to the troll she loved calmly. “You are sure about that Guy?”

The shimmering troll gave her a nod as he spoke. “Yes I am absolutely sure, I know this smell…It’s a potion King Opal has made before…He used it on my brother Emerald heaven rest him.”

“What does it do?” The pink troll asked him her voice soft but full of fear.

Guy was quiet for a few moments, he gulped and as an expression of pain settled onto the face of the sparkling troll he explained what the two potions combined as one did to the rest of the trolls. “This potion drains a troll of their colours rendering them shades of grey and black dependent on their colours before the transformation…But it also makes the one to drink the potion completely obedient to King Opal’s every command.”

Looks of absolute horror came onto the faces of the other eight trolls, and after a short silence it was Suki who said bravely and in a voice full of determination. “We need to save Branch from King Opal! We can’t let him win like this! And we can’t leave Branch to suffer a fate like that!”

There were some murmurs of agreement to the orange haired troll’s words but Biggie shook his head at her and said in a reasonable tone of voice. “How can we possibly manage to do any of that? After all there are only nine of us against a castle full of guards and who knows what else!”

As he said this to Suki Smidge suddenly had an idea and she spoke up her voice full of hope as she did so. “But there are those who can help us!”

“Who?” The twins asked together looking at the other troll with complete confusion.

The little yellow troll didn’t answer this question from Satin and Chenille, instead she cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted out towards with all of her might. “Bell! Bell! Branch needs your help! Please! Come out!”

A few moments after she had done this a little blue bug flew out of the forest it settled on the grass in front of Smidge, it chittered at her, the little yellow troll crouched down to the little bugs level and said to Bell. “I know I don’t understand you in the way Branch does, but I know you understand us and I am sure that you know King Opal is dangerous to the prince. Bell King Opal has taken Branch and done something terrible to him, we need your help to save him from the evil King. Can you gather all of Branch’s forest friends to help us to go and get him back from the King’s castle?” The little yellow bug chittered again it moved from side to side for a few moments, then fluttered up into the air and then zipped off into the forest.

“Do you think it will work?” Suki asked her gently.

Smidge shook her head and then said to the orange haired troll. “I don’t know, but it had to be worth trying…I don’t know exactly how many forest creatures Branch made friends with but maybe if they will join us then we can try a mount a rescue.”

Guy placed a hand onto one of Smidges shoulders and then said to her. “You are right it has to be worth trying and I wish that I had thought of it myself.”

Poppy needing to do something in order to occupy herself until or if Bell came back with help the pink troll quickly spoke up. “While we are waiting I suggest we look for anything we can find in the cottage to help us fight the guards in the castle.”

The other trolls all gave her nods, they entered the house and began to look for anything which might be useful to them to use as weapons right alongside their hair. Chenille and Suki got together any medicinal supplies they thought they might need for those who might get hurt during the battle. Biggie had found the axe in the garden which was used for chopping fire wood, the large blue troll brought it into the cottage and set to sharpening it ready for use. Guy found as many pointed knives as he could from around the kitchen, he sat down and sharpened these, the shimmering troll handed some to Poppy and Suki who quickly stashed them in their hair. Smidge hurriedly got out of the cupboard under the cottage stairs the two bows and quivers of arrows and two daggers which she and Guy took into the forest for protection, the little yellow put on her own bow and quiver and placed her dagger into her belt. Once she had done this Smidge then handed the glittering troll’s bow, quiver and dagger to him, Guy took them from her with a nod of thanks before he then put his dagger into his belt, then placed the quiver of arrows and bow onto.

Just as the nine trolls had finished preparing to go into battle Suki looked outside, she pointed into the clearing around the cottage with a shaking finger and then said to the other trolls in an awed tone of voice. “Look…”

They all looked out of the windows and the open door into the clearing beyond the cottage, the eyes of the rest of the trolls went as wide as Sukis had. As outside the cottage the clearing was full of creatures, creatures of various sizes were there, there were herbivores and predators standing side by side, they were not attacking each other, instead they were all focused on the cottage and Bell was sitting on the grass at the front of this huge group of creatures. Slowly the trolls came out of the cottage, Guy stepped forwards towards all of them, he bowed politely to them and then said. “You have all come to help Branch?”

All of the creatures bowed back and made noises which sounded like agreements to this question, Guy smiled at them and said gratefully to them all. “Thank you, all of you.”

Slowly five wolves stepped forward as they did so they kept their body language nonthreatening and they were followed a few moments later by two stags and one large bare. The five wolves walked calmly to the female members of the party and lowered themselves down at the feat of the female trolls, one by one they got onto the backs of the wolves who stood up showing their willingness to carry them. The large brown bare went over Biggie he lowered himself down so that the large blue troll could get onto the back of the bare which he did quickly making sure to keep hold of the axe. Meanwhile the two stags had made their way over to the two male trolls, they carefully keeled down in front of them, they hastily climbed onto the backs of the stags and they rose to their feet in an elegant manor. Once the animals felt sure that the trolls had a good seat on their backs they, with Cooper dashing along beside them set off through the forest towards the castle as quickly as they could.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter six:

When the castle came into view the animals took the nine trolls through the forest, down a clearly less well used pat and to an iron work gate. It was here that the nine trolls dismounted, Poppy opened the gate and together the trolls and creatures of the woodland slipped quietly into the garden of the castle. As they made their way through the garden they made sure to deal with any guards that they came across as quietly as possible, the trolls and the animals didn’t want to alert Opal to their presence until the last possible moment. Eventually they found their way to the castle its self, they made their way into the castle by using one of the side doors which was clearly meant for the servants of the castle to use to gain entry to the castle. The nine trolls were very surprised to find that the castle was relatively quiet, with not many guards or servants around the trolls felt sure this was down to the King not expecting an attempt to rescue the prince so soon after taking Branch captive. The nine trolls also felt that the castle was so quiet because of the sparkling troll exiling so many trolls for being better looking than him. Once more the nine trolls and the forest creatures dealt with any guards they met with swiftly but quietly, not wanting to harm palace staff these trolls were instead knocked out by the nine trolls and tied up so that they could not warn the King of the forth coming attack. When the party of trolls and creatures reached the room outside the throne room they quickly noticed that there was a rather large party of guards here who wore the Opals colours of black and silver. The trolls and the animals of the forest knew that they wouldn’t be able to get passed these guards quietly, so together those intent on rescuing Branch went on the attack hoping to overwhelm them quickly.

As the sounds of the fight going on in the room beyond the doors filtered through the door into the throne room, Opal came to his feet, he hadn’t been expecting any troll to come after Branch just yet and he felt furry filling him. The shimmering troll had been looking forward to keeping the grey troll as his prisoner for some time to come, before he finally killed the prince just as he had lord emerald so many years ago. The sparkling troll shook himself out of these thoughts, quickly the King went to retrieve the silver box, once he had found it the sparkling troll returned to the throne room and to his throne. Once the Opal had settled onto his throne once more he opened the box took out the apple and he held the fruit out towards Branch. Unable to stop himself the prince took the apple from the hand of the King, he bit into it and a moment later he fell down onto the steps before the throne. As Branch fell downwards his skin turned a pale shade of grey, the poisoned apple rolled out of his now lax fingers stopping a short distance from his fingertips and one it stopped moving blue black poison leaking from the fruit onto the ground forming an inky pool around it. The shimmering troll grinned evilly down at the grey troll, he didn’t move from his throne Opal just sat in his throne the now dead and still chained prince at his feet.

When the trolls and animals had finally defeated all of the guards in the room beyond the throne room they entered it to this scene, the trolls gasped in horror, the forest creatures made noises of distress or anger. “What have you done to Branch!” Poppy demanded of Opal.

The King laughed evilly at her and then answered this demand. “He is dead, if all of you hadn’t come for him then the prince would still be alive.” A few moments after he had said made this gloating statement the animals shot forwards attacking Opal, he let out a scream of fright before being overwhelmed by them.

The nine trolls ran to Branch, it was Guy who noticed the apple not far from the grey troll’s fingers, he stopped to look at the red fruit, the shimmering troll realised it was leaking a black blue substance, he inspected it as the others gathered around the prince and then said to them in urgent tones as he pointed at the black blue pool of liquid around the apple. “That’s Poison, so whatever you do don’t touch it.”

The other trolls all gave Guy nods of understanding before they all turned their attention back to the prince, as all of them looked down at the grey troll, they realised the only splash of colour the prince had left was the blue rose in his hair, together the nine trolls carefully moved Branch onto his back and then into a more comfortable position. As the animals gathered around them in a respectful silence, the nine trolls looked up to where the King had been, but there was nothing left of Opal now save his crown and a few tattered scraps of clothing. A few moments after they realised that the evil King was gone at last the doors to the throne room opened, the creatures of the forest and the nine trolls instantly bounced to their feet on the alert for attacks. In the doorway was not a troll who was going to attack them but Queen Rosiepuff, as she looked at them it was clear that the lavender troll was out of breath. Once she had managed to catch her breath, the Queen addressed to the nine trolls in a soft voice full of disbelief. “I heard the fighting, and one of the members of staff still loyal to me finally told me about my son…”

The nine trolls and the forest animals all moved aside so that the Queen could see her son, she ran across the throne room to his side, the lavender troll got on her knees by her son’s side and looked at him with tears in her eyes. It was Guy who was the one to address the clearly distraught Queen and he did so in as gentle as a voice as he could. “I’m sorry your majesty King Opal killed him, we did our best to keep Prince Branch safe from him but in the end we could not, I’m sorry for that Queen Rosiepuff. At least now King Opal is dead he cannot harm another soul in the same way as he has harmed Branch and so many others before him.”

“Who are you all? And how do you know my son?” The lavender troll asked them, one by one the troll’s introduced themselves to their Queen, they then explained how Branch had come into their care and how they had tried so hard to keep the prince safe from harm because they loved him as though he were their brother. Once the nine trolls had finished explaining everything the lavender troll, Rosiepuff smiled sadly around at all of them as she said. “Thank you, all of you for taking care of my son and for trying to protect him from my crazy husband.”

After Rosiepuff had said this to them all nine of the trolls all went down on their knees around Branch joining the Queen kneeling beside him. Together with his mother they closed their eyes and wept for their friend and brother, none of the ten trolls were aware of one of their tears turning into sparkling light which fell towards the prince before vanishing into him. When at last the ten trolls had no tears left in them they raised their heads to look at the grey troll and slowly Poppy spoke. “We should get Branch out of these horrible clothes and those restraints, those clothes aren’t him at all and I for one can’t stand seeing him in what Opal clothed him in and restrained him in.”

There were murmurs of agreement to these words from all of the other troll’s present and then Satin spoke up. “Chenille and I will make Branch something new to ware, it will be our honour and our last gift to him.”

“I’ll get the restraints off of the prince.” Biggie said with determination eyeing the restraints closely.

After this was said Guy then spoke up. “We can’t lay Branch to rest until prince Creek has had a chance to say his farewells to him.”

“Who is prince Creek?” Rosiepuff asked the sparkling troll curiously.

“He is the one who found and fell in love with your son, he doesn’t know Branch is a prince…We didn’t think it was safe for any other trolls to know but us…But it turns out keeping who he was a secret didn’t spare Branch from this fate.” Guy said his voice was full of sadness when he spoke, as he could imagine the pain Creek was going to feel when he discovered Branch was dead, the sparkling troll felt sure that the purple prince wouldn’t care that the grey troll was a prince he would only care that he had lost him before they had even had a chance of a future of any kind together.

“I see.” The Queen said she kept her voice soft because she could hear the pain in the voice of the glittering troll. Suddenly Bell called all of the trolls attention towards her, as the little blue glow bug chittered from where she was sitting on Branch’s chest, the trolls noticed that she had pulled out of the grey troll’s black hair a gold chain on which sat two golden crown rings. Smiling softly at the little bug Rosiepuff took the golden chain and looked at the two crown rings before saying to the others. “I think my son should be waring these along with his new cloths too.”

After the lavender troll had spoken Guy then spoke up once more. “I’ll make Branch’s coffin…I think one of glass and gold would be most fitting, especially as the prince looks more like he is asleep rather than dead.”

These words drew more murmurs of agreement from the other trolls. “If only we knew were the blue rose came from, Branch should be laid to rest where they are it would be the perfect place for him really.” Suki said adding her own thoughts on this situation to the conversation.

Slowly the eyes of the Queen focused on the blue rose in her son’s hair, her eyes went wide and then she said with awe in her voice. “Oh…I know where that came from…The rose garden…I’ll show you all were that is but I think that should wait until after I get things here at the castle under control. Doing that will give you all time to get my son free of his restraints, into new clothes and to make him a coffin to lay in.” The nine trolls all gave their Queen nods of agreement to her words, tenderly the lavender troll swept her son up into her arms and then said to the other trolls. “I shall leave you all to your work, until everything is ready for Branch I shall put him on his bed in his old room.” The nine trolls all nodded again, then they bowed or curtsied to Queen Rosiepuff as she carried her son out of the throne room and away into the castle. Once the lavender troll was out of sight, the nine trolls and the creatures of the forest returned to their homes.

So it was that as Rosiepuff brought her kingdom back under her control the nine trolls went to work, the twins with the help of Suki and Poppy made the new clothes for the prince. Biggie with the aid of Smidge carefully removed the restraints from the body of the prince, once they were off of him, Biggie took them away to be destroyed while Smidge gently rested Branch’s arms at his side. Guy with the help of Cooper and Fuzzbert carefully built the glass and gold coffin for the prince, he lined it with the purest white silk he could find and the other eight trolls had to admit that for a coffin it was extremely beautiful.

With everything ready for Branch to be put to rest in the rose garden and Queen Rosiepuff’s control over the kingdom once more exerted the trolls returned to the castle with the coffin and the cloths for the prince. As they had sent Bell ahead of them with a message for Branch’s mother, they were met on the front steps of the castle by the Queen when arrived at the castle. Rosiepuff took the twins into the castle and to Branch’s rooms, when they arrived there Satin and Chenille carefully changed him into his new clothes, which was a light teal blue shirt, a pair of long formal royal blue trousers and a matching jacket which was embroidered at the collars and cuffs with a golden edged purple rose pattern the very one which Branch had spent his time in the forest perfecting. Once he was dressed in these new clothes Rosiepuff had to admit they did look a whole lot better on him than the ones which King Opal had dressed him in, the lavender troll turned to one of the staff in the room with the black clothing and addressed her. “Have these burnt I don’t ever want to see them again.”

The servant quickly curtsied to the Queen, she took the cloths from her and the said to the lavender troll. “Yes your majesty, I will see to it straight away.”

Once the servant had left the room with Branch’s old clothes the Queen turned her attention back to her son, she gently slipped the gold chain with the two gold crown rings on it around the grey troll’s neck and then the Queen placed a simple golden crown onto his head. Once this was done Rosiepuff gave Chenille and Satin a nod, seeing this the twins then carefully carried Branch down stairs and back outside to were the others were waiting for them.

As the seven trolls standing on the palace steps looked at Branch dressed like this they had to admit he was even more handsome than before and that for once in his life the grey troll looked just as a prince should. Rosiepuff led the trolls who were carrying the prince and the coffin through the garden and to the magical rose garden, as they entered it the nine trolls gasped, none of them had ever seen roses in such wonderful shades before now. Carefully the glass coffin was lowered by the trolls carrying it into the middle of the garden, the twins placed Branch down onto the satin lining within it, Satin placed his hands onto his chest and then together they stepped back. Queen Rosiepuff gently took one of the purple roses from a nearby rose bush, the lavender troll didn’t know why she felt her son should be holding a purple rose she just know he should be, carefully she placed it under the hands of her son and then the lavender troll also stepped back from the coffin. When she did this Guy and the other trolls carefully placed the glass lid into place over Branch, they all stood in silence looking at the prince as he lay within the coffin and Poppy said softly. “We shall go home and wait for prince Creek to return for Branch. I hope you won’t mind Queen Rosiepuff if we come to visit Branch every so often?”

“Of course I am not going to object, you are like family to my son and you have protected him when I could not.” With this reassurance given to them by the clearly grateful Queen the nine trolls left the castle garden, they returned home to their cottage in the clearing to wait for the return of prince Creek.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter seven:

When they reached their home they entered the cottage, together the nine troll’s quietly packed away into a few wooden chests all of Branch’s belongings, shedding a few more tears together as they did so, when they had finished doing this Poppy and Guy made sure all of the other trolls had gone to bed, before they sat down together downstairs by the fire in the fireplace. The pink troll was snuggled into the side of the sparkling troll, she looked up at the one she loved and said softly to him. “Who was Emerald and how did you know about the potions?”

Guy let out a deep sigh but answered the question. “Emerald was my older brother…Because King Opal felt my older brother was more handsome than him he gave him the same potions as Branch…There is a certain sent to that potion I recognised it straight away. King Opal had planned for me to take the potion too but I fled before he could make me take it just as my brother had…My full name is actually Guy Diamond…But after my brother lord Emerald died I didn’t feel like I was my old self any more so I started calling myself just Guy.”

Poppy shook her head sadly and then said softly. “I’m so sorry my love…That troll destroyed so many lives. You said your brother was lord Emerald does that make you Lord Guy Diamond then?”

“Yes King Opal did destroy many lived and unfortunately he still has prince Creek’s one left to destroy. As for being Lord Guy Diamond yes I guess I am now my brother is gone…I never really wanted to think about that…” As Guy spoke a note of bitterness crept into his voice and he sighed deeply.

“Poor prince Creek…” As the pink troll spoke she nuzzled into Guy a little further, in response to this he held the one he loved a little tighter, he gently stroked one had over Poppy’s hair and enjoyed being able to have her close to him like this.

“Indeed poor prince Creek.” Guy said with agreement, the sparkling troll had no idea how they were even going to tell the prince about what had happened to Branch. Guy also knew that no matter what they told Creek about the fate of the blue troll he loved that what had happened to the other prince would more than likely break his heart.

 

A month and a half passed before Creek returned to the forest, the prince was dressed finely, he wore a white shirt, he wore a pair of long royal purple trousers, the jacket he wore matched it was embroidered with bright blue and green teal celtic patterns at the cuffs and collar to go with his hair. Around his shoulders was a cloak, it was royal purple on the outside and the same two tones on the inside as the embroidery was on his jacket. The prince came into the clearing which contained the nine troll’s cottage riding on the back of a jet black stag behind him came a white one, this magnificent beast was to be Branch’s transport back to his home.

Smidge was the one to see him enter the clearing, she dashed inside the cottage to get the others and returned a few moments later from within the cottage with the rest of the troll’s. Creek smiled at them, he was so happy to be back here, he was looking forward to seeing Branch other than in the few dreams he’d had of the other troll. The purple prince dismounted from his black stag, as he walked towards the nine troll’s they came to meet him, the nine of them bowed to the prince and the purple troll addressed them. “Where is Branch?”

There was silence for a long moment, the nine troll’s looked to each other none of them quite sure what to say to the prince, slowly Guy stepped forwards and then with sadness clear in his voice shimmering troll spoke to Creek. “I am sorry prince Creek you are too late.”

“Too late…” At first the purple troll wasn’t sure what the sparkling troll was trying to tell him, then his eyes widened, dread filled Creek’s heart, tears gathered in the eyes of the purple troll and worry bled into his voice as the prince said. “No…Oh no…King Opal hasn’t killed him?”

Guy nodded at Creek as he spoke tears started to gather in the eyes of the glittering troll. “I’m afraid so and there is more to tell you…”

“More…?” The purple troll asked fear entering his voice as he asked this question.

“Yes, there is more prince Creek, Branch is in fact prince Branch the heir of this kingdom, he comes from the line from the beastly King…” Guy stopped speaking for a moment trying to decide what to tell the prince about what had happened to Branch at the hands of King Opal, the shimmering troll decide that Creek didn’t need to know about the one he loved being under the power of the King or his prisoner, the prince didn’t deserve the kind of pain which such knowledge would cause him. Guy did know that Creek would need to know that Branch was now grey, and with this decided Guy spoke to the prince once more. “King Opal poisoned the prince but before he did that King Opal drained Branch of his colours turning him grey and black.”

Creek shook his head with disbelief hardly able to take in what he was hearing, he could feel the sadness wanting to overwhelm him, he wanted to weep, but quickly the purple troll got himself back under control and then asked Guy the most important question to him at the moment in time. “Please tell me that I can see Branch one last time?”

The shimmering troll gave the prince a nod, he placed a comforting hand onto the shoulder of the prince as he said. “Yes, you can see him one last time, we told the prince’s mother Queen Rosiepuff about you and that you should be able to see Branch and say good bye to him before the prince was put to rest properly.”

Creek let out a relived sigh as Guy told him he could at least say god bye to the one he loved, then he asked the nine trolls. “Can you show me the way to Branch?”

With nods for the prince the nine trolls led the purple troll into the forest, together they walked through the forest, when they came to the pathway they went along the path to the iron work garden gate, the ten trolls made their way through the gate into the castle garden and then at last the nine trolls and the prince entered the rose garden were Branch lay.

As Creek noticed the roses in the garden his eyes widened he instantly recognised them from his dream, then the eyes of the prince came to settle on Branch and his already wide eyes managed to widen further. The purple troll could hardly stand to look at the one he loved drained of his colours like this, the prince wished with all of his heart that there was something he could do to return the other prince’s colours to him and that he could have saved Branch from this fate but he knew that this was impossible. Carefully the nine trolls lifted the glass cover off of the grey troll, they laid it to one side, they moved back from the coffin, they stood around the clearing, then together all of the nine trolls knelt down and lowered their heads respectfully facing towards were Branch lay. 

Slowly Creek walked over to the right hand side of the coffin, he looked down at Branch, he instantly noticed that in his hair was the blue rose he had given the other prince, and in his hands was one of the purple roses from the bushes in the garden. “Oh my love…I’m so sorry…I should have come for you sooner than you might have been spared this fate.” Creek gently stroked one of the cheeks of the grey troll and then said softly to Branch. “I will always love you with all of my heart, you are my true love and I shall never have another troll to be mine.”

After a few moments of silence the purple troll gently pressed his lips to those of the prince in a soft short kiss and then slowly he pulled back from this last tender last kiss. Creek went down onto one knee by the side of the coffin Branch lay in, as he knelt there the purple troll closed his eyes, it was at this moment that the prince finally let himself weep for the one he had loved with all of his heart and lost. Just like the other trolls before him Creek was completely unaware of one of his tears turning into glitter and being absorbed into Branch. As this happened colour slowly travelled up the prince, his skin turned teal blue and his hair became royal blue once more. Branch took his first small breath, then a second, his eyes gradually opened, the now once more blue prince sat up slowly, he looked down to his right side, immediately Branch noticed Creek kneeling down by his side weeping and said very softly but with confusion to the other prince. “Creek?”

As soon as he heard the voice of the blue troll the head of the prince shot up, he stared up at Branch with wide disbelieving grey blue eyes, then he quickly came up onto his feet, joy and wonder was filling the heart of the purple prince and he said with awe to his voice. “Branch!”

While all of this had been happening the heads of the nine trolls had shot up, they were all staring in amazement at the now blue and awake prince, slowly all nine of the trolls started smiling and letting out sounds of joy as they realised that Branch truly was awake and with them once more. With a huge smile on his face prince Creek quickly swept the blue troll out of the coffin into his arms, he placed the feet of the blue troll to the floor and then unable to stop himself from doing so Creek kissed him again. Quickly Branch started to respond to this kiss, he returned it letting all the love he held for the other prince show as he did so, as they kissed this second time Creek glowed with purple light and Branch with blue they both knew this meant that they really had found their one true love in each other. All around the troll’s present in the garden all of the roses in the garden were also glowing with blue and purple light causing the air around them all to fill with shimmering blue and purple light.

As they broke this kiss Branch carefully slid the purple rose he had been holding in his hand while in the coffin into the two tone hair of the other prince alongside one of his ears so that Creek now wore a rose just as he did. Once the blue prince had done this he then gently unfastened the gold chain from around his neck, Creek watched with confusion as he slipped one gold crown ring off of the chain before he did the chain back up around his neck with only one ring left on it. The eyes of the purple prince went wide as the blue troll knelt down before him on one knee, Branch took his left hand into his right and held the golden ring out towards him with his other hand. “Prince Creek, my one true love would you do me the honour of becoming my husband?”

At first all the prince could do was nod, then from somewhere he found enough of his voice to whisper to the one he loved. “Yes, of course I will marry you.”

Grinning widely Branch slipped the golden crown ring onto the middle finger of the purple troll’s left hand, he then took that hand back into his right hand and pressed a kiss to the ring which glowed with blue light. Slowly the blue troll rose back up to his feet, Creek reached out he touched the other ring on the chain, it glowed softly with purple light and then he addressed Branch. “On my way here I had planned exactly how I was going to ask you to be my husband…I never dreamt that you would beat me to it…May I have the other crown ring my love?”

Branch gave him a nod, he unclasped the chain again carefully the blue troll removed the second golden crown ring from the chain, he handed it to Creek and then placed the chain the rings had been on into the pocket of his jacket. Gently the purple troll took the left hand of the prince into his right, before he carefully placed the ring onto the middle finger of the blue troll’s hand, then just as Branch had done Creek lifted this hand he pressed a kiss to the ring which glowed with purple light. As the gazes of the two male trolls met once more they shared a loving smile, Creek gathered Branch into his arms and then kissed him. The blue troll slipped his arms around the waist of the prince, he kissed the one he loved back happy to be able to enjoy doing so with all of his heart. When Creek broke this kiss, neither of the two trolls released each other, instead they held each other and put their foreheads together for a few moments and just bathed in the wonderful feeling of being together at last gave them.

Reluctantly they drew their heads apart, Creek and Branch turned to the other nine trolls, they smiled at them widely and then gestured them over to them. Not needing to be told twice Branch’s adopted family were on their feet, they descended on the two male trolls, they all laughed together glad to see that the prince was alright and then all eleven of the trolls hugged in one huge group hug. As all of the trolls broke this group hug Creek looked at the one he loved and then said softly to the blue troll. “We should go and see your mother that you are safe now.”

“Yes love, you are right we should do so. I hope my family that you will come with us.”

All nine of the other trolls gave them nods of agreement, before they left the garden Creek and Branch held hands as they did not want to be separated from each other again any time soon. Branch’s adopted family smiled at the couple, they all thought in this moment that the two male trolls were utterly adorable. Once the two princes felt that they were at last ready to go into the castle all eleven trolls went into the castle and made their way through the building towards the throne room. As guards and staff noticed the prince’s and their company, they all made way for them bowing and curtsying to the them as they went passed them. When they came to the doors of throne room, Branch took a deep steadying breath this would be the first time he had seen his mother sine he had left the castle and he felt nerves biting at him. Seeming to sense the feelings of the one he loved Creek squeezed his hand, the blue troll looked at the other prince, seeing Branch look at him the purple troll gave him an encouraging smile and a nod. Noticing this nod from Creek the blue troll felt courage filling him once more, Branch gave the one he loved a nod back, he lifted his free hand, Creek did the same thing, so that together they pushed the two doors to the throne room before they walked into the throne room side by side and with Branch’s adopted family not far behind them.

As the two troll princes and the nine trolls came into the room, Queen Rosiepuff shot to her feet, her eyes widened as they settled on the blue troll standing hand in hand with the purple troll at his side. A noise of joy and wonder left the lavender troll, she dashed across the throne room to her son, the Queen threw her arms around Branch, the blue troll put his free arm around his mother, tears were falling from her eyes and from his as they held each other. “You’re alright! You’re alright! Oh, my son, how is this even possible?” Rosiepuff asked the blue troll with wonder and disbelief clear in her voice as she did so, then the Queen pulled back and held her sun at arm’s length looking him over with eyes which shone with joy.

“Creek’s true love for me saved me mother.” Branch told her his love for the prince clear in his voice and eyes as he turned his head to look at the purple troll at his side.

Rosiepuff turned to look at the other prince, she smiled widely at him and then said. “Prince Creek, it is a pleasure to meet you at last and it is wonderful to know my son found his true love in you. It would appear my first husband’s King Sapphire’s prayers that our son Branch would find his Creek came true after all.”

As the Queen said this the eyes of Creek went wide, he suddenly realised who it was who had given him the rose dreams so long ago it had been the spirit of Branch’s father. Slowly the purple troll smiled at the Rosiepuff, he was glad to think that King Sapphire had in his own way given him his blessing, to be with Branch and then he said softly to the Queen. “I am glad I could save your son from what King Opal had done to him. I couldn’t be happier Branch is my true love. I know that King Sapphire prayed for me, I dreamt of the King once he told me he had prayed for me, though I didn’t know who he was at the time, King Sapphire was the one who gave me the blue rose your son has in his hair.”

Both Branch and Rosiepuff smiled at Creek, they were unsurprised by his strange dream after all magical dreams and the magical roses had been a long standing family trait since the beastly King and his true love. After a few moments, the blue troll reluctantly turned his gaze away from the one he loved, back to his mother and he then said to her. “Mother I have asked prince Creek to marry me and he has agreed.”

Rosiepuff beamed a wide smile at the two trolls standing before her. “I’m thrilled to hear that you will be marrying your true love my son, and your family prince Creek will they have any objection to you marrying my son?”

The purple troll shook his head at Rosiepuff. “No they will not. I had already gone home to tell my family I had found the one I wished to wed, they are looking forward to meeting Branch. I will of course write to tell them we are to be wed and to invite them to the wedding.”

The Queen gives him a nod. “Of course you must invite them to the wedding I would have it no other way, I look forward to meeting your family. I cannot believe I now have a wedding to plan rather than a funeral.” After she had said this Rosiepuff turned her attention to the nine other trolls. “And all of you must attend the wedding to.”

They all smiled at the lavender troll, they were very glad to have been invited to the wedding by the Queen, it was Poppy who spoke for them all. “We will of course be honoured to attend the wedding of our brother and Creek.”

So it was that together the twelve trolls set to work on planning the wedding of the two male trolls, Smidge and Fuzzbert were put in charge of the flowers. Suki was of course taking care of all the music for the wedding and the party which was to be held for all the castle to attend afterwards. Biggie was baking the wedding cake, Poppy and Rosiepuff were organising the guest list and writing all of the invitations for the wedding ceremony itself which the pink troll soon discovers is a delicate thing as there is no wish on the Queens part to insult any rulers of other countries by not inviting them or a representative to the wedding. As for the twin’s they were put in charge of making new suites for the two grooms and a new dress for Queen Rosiepuff. Cooper and Guy were the ones making sure to get anything which was needed for the wedding and after party, such as chairs and table cloths. As the wedding was being organised around the to be married couple Creek kept his word and wrote to his family, he and Branch also add their thoughts to how they would like their wedding to be.


	8. Chapter Eight

Chapter eight:

The Queen and all of the nine trolls were very glad that after a long talk with the blue troll that it appeared the prince they loved like a brother had absolutely no recollection of what had happened to him while he was under the control of King Opal. The nine of them and the Queen all made the decision, which they cemented with a promise that they would never tell either Branch or Creek about anything more than the fact he had been drained grey and poisoned by the now dead King Opal. The purple troll soon had a response to his letter home, his family assured him that they were more than happy to come to Branch’s home kingdom to see Creek married to the one he loved especially considering what Branch and his mother had been through. 

So it was that two months after all this happened Creek’s father a bright teal green skinned and bright blue haired troll King named Leaf, his mother the purple skinned and mint green haired troll Queen named Amethyst and his sister a mint green skinned and purple haired troll named Daisy arrived from his far off home kingdom. They had been very happy to meet Branch at last, when Creek’s family had discovered that their son shared a bond of true love with the blue prince they had been thrilled for their son. All three members of Creek’s family instantly treated Branch and Queen Rosiepuff as though they were already members of their family. Queen Amethyst and princess Daisy set to work they helped with the organising of the wedding by rechecking all the details of the event and sorting out any problems which arose. King Leaf was to be the troll marrying Creek and Branch, this was something which he looked forwards to doing with all of his heart.

The wedding took place six months after Branch had been saved from his fate by Creek, the day of the wedding was gloriously sunny, the throne room looked splendid, it was full of forest flowers and happily chatting guests both of royal and common rank. Branch stood at the end of the aisle in front of King Leaf, he was splendidly dressed in a royal blue suite with an undershirt of teal blue, over which was a waistcoat of purple in the exact same shade as Creek. The blue prince also wore a simple gold crown atop his head were his hair line met his head and he still wore in his hair over his ear the blue rose which Creek had given him. Branch felt both nervous and excited, he was truly looking forward to being married to the one he loved but at the same time he worried that something else would go wrong for them before they could be married.

The concern which the blue troll was feeling only finally eased from him when the doors to the throne room opened and Creek entered the throne room on the arm on his mother with his sister behind him as his only attendant this the blue prince had discovered was a tradition amongst his people for the one who had been proposed to. Branch was sure that both the Queen and the princess looked beautiful in their gowns made by the twins, but he only had eyes for Creek who dressed as he was took his breath away. The other prince was dressed in a suite identical to his own but in royal purple and a light purple shirt over which was a teal blue waistcoat in exactly the same shade as Branch himself. The crown the prince wore was of a type which Branch had never seen before it was made of what appeared to be clear opalescent crystal in long fine crystal spikes, the blue troll decided it was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen and that it suited the two tone hair of the one he loved perfectly. The blue prince was very glad to notice that just like himself Creek still wore in his hair the purple rose which he had given to him after the other prince had saved him.

As Creek walked down the aisle his and Branch locked eyes, they smiled at each other, when the Queen reached were the blue troll stood waiting she didn’t even hesitate to place Creek’s hand into Branch’s, she knew that the two princes would take good care of each other and love each other now and always. Together, hand in hand the couple turned to face King Leaf, he smiled with clear happiness at the two of them and then he started the wedding ceremony. A few moments later it was time for the exchange of vows, Branch turned towards Creek, his eyes met those of the other troll, he held his grey blue gaze and as the blue prince spoke his vows. “I prince Branch Dawn-song am honoured this day to take you prince Creek Riverway to be my husband. You are my true love, my heart is your and it shall be so now and always this I do promise.” Once Branch had finished making his vows, he lifted Creeks left hand, he kissed the ring making it glow with blue light, he lifted his lips from the ring, the blue troll looked at the purple troll and smiled at him widely.

Creek smiled back at Branch he had never felt so happy in his whole life before now and then he took his turn to make his vows to the other prince. “I prince Creek Riverway am honoured this day to take you prince Branch Dawn-song to be my husband, with the blessing of my family this day I become prince Creek Dawn-song and I give my claim to the throne of my father over to my sister princess Daisy so I never have to leave the side of my love again. You are my true love, my heart is your and it shall be so now and always this I do promise.” As Creek told him that he was going to be a Dawn-song, give up his future Kingship and never leave his side again the eyes of the blue troll went wide with wonder, joy flooded through him and his smile somehow grew even larger. As the purple troll finished making his vows he lifted Branch’s left hand, he kissed the ring it glowed with purple light, as he looked back up at the prince, the couple shared yet another happy smile before turning their attention back to Creek’s father.

As they both looked at him the King smiled first at his son, then at Branch before he said with great joy in his eyes and voice. “I know declare you both married you may kiss.”

Branch and Creek shared a soft loving kiss, as they kissed the two trolls glowed with blue and purple light showing to all the guests at the wedding just how deep the bond these two trolls shared was. As they broke the kiss Branch smiled with gladness at the other prince who returned this smile with a joyful one of his own. The blue prince then held his arm out to Creek, the purple troll smiled at his new husband, he placed his arm along that of the other troll, together both feeling wonderfully happy and content the two princes walked back down the aisle side by side and out of the throne room doors to great cheering from all of the guests. 

Creek and Branch didn’t go straight from their wedding ceremony to the party which was being held for them, instead they quietly made their way into the castle garden, and to the family mausoleum which was a white round golden domed building that stood in one corner of the vast castle garden. Guy was waiting for them at the door to it, in his hands he was holding a large bunch of wild flowers, Branch used his free hand to take the flowers from Guy, he smiled at his friend and then said to the other troll. “Thank you Guy.”

“Your very welcome Branch, I will tell anyone who asks after the pair of you that the two of you will both be back at the party in a short while.” The sparkling troll told him, before he turned, Guy walked away from the two trolls without looking back at them as the shimmering troll knew that this moment was just for these two trolls.

Together Creek and Branch walked into the mausoleum, in silence they made their way over to King Sapphires tomb, the purple troll took his hand off of the top of the hand of the one he loved. Branch moved forward away from him on quiet feet towards his father’s tomb, with the utmost care the blue troll lay the bunch of flowers on top of his father’s tomb and then said very softly. “Hello father, I have missed being able to talk to you so very much…I have someone I want you to meet, someone you sent to me.”

The blue troll turned towards Creek, he held a hand out to the other prince, the purple troll had to blink back tears at the sight of the one he loved in this moment. The smile on Branch’s face was brilliant, but his eyes were full of tears which trembled on his eyelashes they were right on the edge of falling. Creek stepped forward he took Branch’s hand in his, the purple troll squeezed his hand firmly in a comforting way and accepting this offer of reassurance the blue prince squeezed his hand back. Branch turned back towards the tomb, he then placed his free hand onto the top of the tomb, with an encouraging nod from the one he loved the purple prince copied this gesture and Branch then said softly to his father’s spirit. “Father this is my Creek…The Creek you prayed for…He is my true love and now my husband Creek.”

“It is good to meet you at last King Sapphire, thank you so much for praying for us and for bringing us together, I have found my true love and husband in your son.” As he spoke to Sapphire’s spirit Branch slowly rested his head onto the shoulder of his new husband, when he finished speaking Creek placed a kiss onto the top of his head, neither one of them said anything and they just stood together in contemplative but content silence for a while.

Eventually Branch took his head back off of his shoulder looked at the other prince by his side and said to him with regret clear in his voice. “We should go back to the party.” The blue troll didn’t really want to go to the party and do as he needed to and talk to all of those guests, instead Branch would much rather be spending time alone with his new husband.

“We should but right now I don’t want to…There is something else I want to do.” After he had finished speaking Creek used the hold he had on the hand of the other troll to guide the blue troll out of the mausoleum, together hand in hand they made their way through the garden, side by side the two of the male trolls walked to the rose garden. As soon as they entered it all of the blue and purple roses all around them started to glow and music wafted into the garden from the party in the castle. Branch and Creek looked around them in awe, the garden was a beautiful magical place tonight and they both knew that this was the perfect place for the start of a new beginning their start of a life together. As the music of a waltz being played at the party reached them on the wind, the two of them took hold of each other and together they danced a waltz around the rose garden their steps and their joy was lit only by the roses and the full moon above them.

 

After the wedding and its party was over Guy and Poppy went in search of her father, it took them a year and a half of searching from place to place and following the clues they found, but eventually they found the pink troll’s father Peppy. The old troll was alive but he was very ill in a troll hospital, thinking that his daughter wasn’t alive any more the old troll had been unwilling to fight his illness, as he just wanted to die and join his daughter in heaven. After seeing that Poppy was in fact alive and had a troll she loved with her, Peppy had been over joyed and he was quickly nursed back to full health again. Once the older troll was well enough to travel Guy had taken Poppy and her father to his home in Opals old home kingdom, it was now being ruled over by Opal’s kinder younger brother Onyx. Guy claimed back his place as lord Guy Diamond, after a few months of getting use to what being a lord of the manor entailed King Onyx had the sparkling troll who was his cousin made a duke and in time he become one of the new Kings closest councillors. A year after this Guy proposed to Poppy who accepted him and then a year after his proposal, Guy married Poppy in a simple but intimate ceremony with all of their friends and adopted family attendance.

 

As for what happened to the rest of the nine trolls, well they were all knighted by the grateful Queen Rosiepuff, Creek and Branch they give them all the honorary title of bother’s and sister’s of the royal house of Dawn-song these two titles and their actions brought all of the nine troll's great respect in the kingdom. Biggie became the palace chef, Fuzzbert took on the job of the palace gardener and after a few years of courtship he married Smidge, who had become the new royal forest warden. Satin and Chenille work as seamstresses to the royal family and they were very famous all through the kingdom for their work. Suki has been given the job of organising music and events at the castle and Cooper he became the palace herald, the orange haired troll had surprised everyone by going after the four legged troll and eventually marrying him. Twice a year every year no matter what all eleven of the trolls all gather together at the cottage in the forest to just spend time together as family.

 

After two years of being married Creek and Branch had a son named who they named Sapphire in honour of the one to help bring them together and in time Sapphire married a princess from Diamonds home country named Jade these two trolls were very much in love, in time they had a daughter who he named Rosiepuff for her great grandmother. The princess in time married a shimmering prince from far away country his name was Shimmer, they had a son who they named Creek in honour of his great grandfather, this prince Creek who would become part of his very own story thus earning this kingdom the nickname of the kingdom of magic, but the story of this particular prince Creek’s story is a tale for another time.


End file.
